HAYWARD — A proposal to add a community health center next door to a rebuilt fire station on the south end of town could mean fewer trips to area emergency rooms and also help deal with an influx of patients newly insured under the Affordable Care Act, the City Council was told Tuesday night.

Scores of South Hayward residents showed up in force at the meeting to voice support for the proposed health center that would be built alongside a new fire station in the Tennyson Corridor.

“This is something our community desperately needs,” Myeshia Jefferson told the council. “I can only name one health clinic in Hayward, and it’s pretty crowded.”

South Hayward only has one public pediatric clinic and none for adults. Many neighborhood residents also are uninsured, with several getting primary care in the emergency room for health problems that could be taken care of less expensively at a clinic, Fire Chief Garrett Contreras told the council.

Putting the clinic next to a fire station takes advantage of the good will firefighters have built in the community and building on city land will reduce construction costs, he said.

In his presentation to the council, Contreras said that when the Affordable Care Act kicks in next year, the demand for primary health care will increase.

In addition, Hayward will lose one of its two emergency rooms next year when Kaiser moves its hospital to San Leandro. Many trauma patients will have to be taken outside of Hayward for treatment, which concerns the Fire Department, Contreras said.

The clinic would be built on a city parcel next to Fire Station No. 7 on Huntwood Avenue just off Tennyson Road. Constructing the station and health center would cost roughly $10 million to $11 million, City Manager Fran David told the council.

Replacing Fire Station No. 7 is a critical need, she said. The station is in four modular buildings that were intended to be temporary when they were put on the site in 1997, and they are not in good shape.

But, she said, funds are not available now to build a new fire station or a new health clinic. “We do not yet have funding for these two facilities,” she said.

While council members supported building both the station and clinic, they asked staff members to come back with scenarios on how to pay for construction.

“Without funding, this goes nowhere,” Mayor Michael Sweeney said.

The city would not pay the cost of operating the clinic. The Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center would run it under a contract with Alameda County Health Care Services Agency. The fully staffed primary care clinic would have 10 employees, including a physician, nurse practitioner and nurse.

The county estimates more than 5,000 patients would visit the clinic in the first two years. The center would be open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday at first, though hours could be adjusted if needed.

“We need to find the money,” Councilman Al Mendall said. “This is an asset that part of town needs.”

More than 90 percent of the city’s firefighters are certified paramedics, responding to more than 10,000 medical calls a year. Paramedics last year were called 300 times to the Hayward Wellness Center on Winton Avenue, the fire chief said earlier Tuesday. Having a clinic next to a station could improve response time.

“Any time there’s someone with chest pain at a health center, 911 is activated,” Contreras said. “If they come to the clinic and have a more serious issue, we would have seven paramedics next door.”

The clinic-fire station idea was first proposed by Alameda Count Health Services Agency and the Hayward Fire Department in 2011. That proposal called for paramedics to work in the clinic, but the idea was abandoned after nurses objected, Contreras said.

About 6,000 residents living in a 3-mile radius from Fire Station No. 7 were surveyed about the health clinic over a two-month period by community organizers hired through a grant secured by the county. Almost 2,000 of them wrote letters urging construction of the clinic, as did more than 120 businesses, congregations and community-based organizations.

“There is huge support from the Tennyson community for the firehouse clinic, and there is huge necessity for the new fire station,” David said Wednesday. “The two individually are council priorities, and the two together create a fantastic opportunity for Hayward to be a leader in the delivery of community paramedicine services in a new and creative way.

Rebecca Parr is the city editor for the Oakland Tribune and Hayward Daily Review. She previously covered the Hayward area as a reporter. She has worked in many Bay Area newsrooms and does not miss the commute.